| Devotion to Our Lady |
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TO VISIT A SHRINE
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| Bethlehem | Nazareth | Lanciano | Lourdes | La Salette | Fatima | Guadalupe | Walsingham | Mount Carmel |
| Our Lady of Perpetual Help | St. Patrick's Purgatory |
The feast of Our Lady of Walsingham used to be celebrated on March 25th; it is now celebrated on September 24th
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THE BASIC FACTS
THE DATE
In the Middle Ages, 1061
THE LOCATION
The village of Walsingham, on the eastern side of England, near King's Lynn.
THE SEER
Richeldis de Faverches,
Lady of the Manor of Walsingham, widow. THE MESSAGE
Richeldis de Faverches, Lady of the Manor of Walsingham, was saying her prayers when she received a vision of the Virgin Mary. In her vision, she was taken to the Holy House at Nazareth. It was difficult at that time for Christians to visit the holy land because of their occupation by Muslim forces.
Our Lady asked the Lady Richeldis to build an exact replica of the Holy House at Walsingham and hence Walsingham became known as "England's Nazareth." This was followed by a twice-repeated vision of St. Joseph, Mary and the Child Jesus at Nazareth, during which the Lady of the Manor was commanded to build a replica of the Holy House, in which the Annunciation took place, on her own land for the use of the Crusaders as a focus for devotion. Richeldis gave instructions for the edifice, but the following night she was awakened by singing: she investigated and saw Angels departing and the Holy Hose had been miraculously built. THE CONSEQUENCES
Soon pilgrims began to arrive; Augustinian canons and Franciscan friars established houses by 1130 to care for the needs of visitors, both commoners and royalty. King Henry III became a patron of the Shrine in 1226. All along the road chapels were erected, the last of which, in the fourteenth century, dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, patron Saint of the Holy Land pilgrims. This was known as Slipper Chapel. Here pilgrims, out of respect, would take off their boots and approach the Shrine either in slippers or barefoot.
The original pre-reformation Roman Catholic shrine stood in the village from 1061 until its destruction in 1538 by Henry VIII’s commissioners. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII gave permission for the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham to be re-founded and this was done as the Lady Chapel of the Church of the Annunciation on London Road in King’s Lynn, then the parish church for Roman Catholics in this area of North Norfolk. From there, the first public pilgrimage since the Reformation came to Walsingham on 20th August 1897. The Kings Lynn shrine (26 miles west of Walsingham) can still be visited today, and is a replica of the Holy House of Loreto, similar to that found in the 1930's Anglican Shrine. The Walsingham Roman Catholic Shrine is 1.3 miles south of Walsingham, in a hamlet called Houghton St. Giles. LESSONS TO LEARN
1. OUR LADY INTERVENES
We learn, from the events surrounding the first building of the shrine of the Holy House of Nazareth in Walsingham, that Our Lady is a mother who watches her children and intervenes in the world. She is not an absent Mother, she is a Mother fully involved in all the cares, necessities and anxieties of her children. The Holy Land was becoming unsafe for the many pilgrims traveling there, because of the occupation by the Muslims, and so the Crusades were about to be launched in 1095, just 34 years after Lady RIcheldis' building of the Holy House of Nazareth. Our Lady supplies a safer place of pilgrimage and it receives its stamped approval from Heaven by becoming the 3rd most popular place of pilgrimage after Compostella in Spain and Rome (Jerusalem was just as popular prior to the Muslim troubles). 2. HEAVEN LIKES PILGRIMAGES Our Lady wanted the Holy House building so that it would become, as it did become, a place of pilgrimage. In fact the Middle Ages were Ages of Pilgrimage par excellence! In the revelations made to saints and mystics, we learn that Our Lady herself would make personal pilgrimages, after Jesus' ascension into Heaven, to various sites associated with the life of her Divine Son. We are, in a sense, on a perpetual pilgrimage to Heaven. This is why the Church and spiritual writers speak of the members of the Church as "pilgrims." A pilgrim leaves family, friends, work, hobbies and most of his goods behind, as he sets out to his holy destination. That is a wonderful symbol of what our attitude to life should be. Ready to leave all and everyone behind, if necessary, in our quest for God and salvation. A pilgrim passes through places, but does not stay long. He has his holy destination on his mind, and wants to get there as quickly as he can. The pilgrim will encounter many dangers on the road: from humans, beasts and weather. These three dangerous elements remind us of our enemies on the pilgrimage to Heaven: the devil, the world, and the flesh. 3. GOD'S FAVOR DOES NOT EXCLUDE SUFFERING Firstly, you would think that if Our Lady wanted this House building, then there would be no problems involved. She would arrange for all things to go smoothly. Well, yes and no! We see the builders having many problems from the outset, so suffering accompanies the work. Yet, at the same time, a miracle is performed to get the work done! When God sees that we are doing our best, but without much success, then He is more likely to intervene than if we do little or nothing and expect Heaven to do almost everything. "God helps those who help themselves!" We always have to supply the effort, the success depends upon the Will and Providence of God. Secondly, even though this is Our Lady's building project, and even though it grows to be very successful, she nevertheless allows the whole thing to be destroyed by King Henry VIII. Just as God the Father allowed His only-begotten Son to be destroyed in the prime of His life. The ways of God are a mystery, and, as He says, through the mouth of Isaias His prophet: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts" (Isaias 55:8-9). PRAYERS
Ancient Walsingham Prayer
O alone of all women, Mother and Virgin, Mother most happy, Virgin most pure, now we sinful as we are, come to see thee who are all pure, we salute thee, we honour thee as how we may with our humble offerings; may thy Son grant us, that imitating thy most holy manners, we also, by the grace of the Holy Ghost may deserve spiritually to conceive the Lord Jesus in our inmost soul, and once conceived never to lose him. Amen. Prayer to Our Lady of Walsingham O Mary, recall the solemn moment when Jesus, your divine son, dying on the cross, confided us to your maternal care. You are our mother, we desire ever to remain your devout children. let us therefore feel the effects of your powerful intercession with Jesus Christ. make your name again glorious in the shrine once renowned throughout England by your visits, favours, and many miracles. Pray, O holy mother of God, for the conversion of England, restoration of the sick, consolation for the afflicted, repentance of sinners, peace to the departed. O blessed Mary, mother of God, our Lady of Walsingham, intercede for us. Amen. Prayer to Our Lady of Walsingham O blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Walsingham, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon us, our parish, our country, our homes, and our families, and upon all who greatly hope and trust in your prayers, (especially...) By you it was that Jesus, our Savior and hope, was given to the world; and he has given you to us that we may hope still more. Plead for us your children, whom you did receive and accept at the foot of the Cross, O sorrowful Mother. Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of your Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we all may be made worthy to see and praise God, together with you in our heavenly home. Amen. Our Lady of Walsingham, Pray for us. |
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 THE HOUSE OF NAZARETH IN WALSINGHAM
The workmen tried to build there but found themselves unable to do so. They gave up in despair and consulted Lady Richeldis. She spent all night in prayer. The next morning a miracle was discovered. The chapel was found fully completed and standing on the other dry spot. It was concluded that Our Lady had removed the Holy House to the place she herself had chosen.
When it was built, the Holy House in Walsingham was panelled with wood and contained a wooden statue of an enthroned Virgin Mary with the child Jesus seated on her lap. Among its relics was a phial of the Virgin’s milk. Soon pilgrims began to arrive; Augustinian canons and Franciscan friars established houses by 1130 to care for the needs of visitors, both commoners and royalty. King Henry III became a patron of the Shrine in 1226. All along the road chapels were erected, the last of which, in the fourteenth century, dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, patron Saint of the Holy Land pilgrims. This was known as Slipper Chapel. Here pilgrims, out of respect, would take off their boots and approach the Shrine either in slippers or barefoot. The original pre-reformation Roman Catholic shrine stood in the village from 1061 until its destruction in 1538 by Henry VIII’s commissioners. Walsingham became one of northern Europe’s great places of pilgrimage and remained so through most of the Middle Ages.
Following his example nearly all the Kings and Queens of England, up to and including King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon, came on pilgrimage to the Holy House, until the Dissolution of the Priory in 1538.
By the 14th and 15th centuries Walsingham and Canterbury were the two premier places of pilgrimage in England, with Walsingham slightly the more important of the two, as this was a shrine to Our Lady whereas Canterbury was a shrine to St. Thomas Becket. At one time, it was ranked among the 3 most important pilgrimage sites in Europe, along with Santiago de Compostela and Rome.
Routes were marked by religious houses or wayside chapels to aid the pilgrims with their spiritual and temporal needs. Monasteries and hospices also offered hospitality. Travelling was very hazardous with miles of open or forested countryside, poor tracks, outlaws and wild animals like wolves and boar, so pilgrims were encouraged to travel in groups. Pilgrims often visited a number of shrines en route to a principal shrine.
Pilgrimages to Walsingham might include Bromholm Priory to see a relic of the
Holy Cross, a visit to the anchorite Mother Julian in Norwich or St William’s
shrine in Norwich Cathedral, St Edmund’s Shrine at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk,
or St Etheldreda’s shrine in Ely Cathedral.
Many pilgrims came from Europe by boat, either into King’s Lynn (a member of the Germanic Hanseatic League and the fourth largest medieval port in England), or into smaller ports along the North Norfolk coast, like Wells, Blakeney or Cley. Travellers from the north of England would find it easier and safer to travel by boat down the north east coast, so they did not have to cross the notoriously dangerous Fens (marshlands). An essential purchase for all pilgrims was a lead or pewter pilgrim badge. Worn on their hat or cloak, the badge was a keepsake to show which pilgrimage they had made. Walsingham emblems varied in shape and design but usually bore a symbol of the Annunciation. AN ANALYSIS OF THE STATUE OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM
 FROM PEACE TO PERSECUTION
In the following century, the shrine received the coveted laurel of official backing, when King Henry III and his glamorous and extravagant wife, Eleanor of Provence, went there on pilgrimage. After that, other royal visitors included King Edward II, Edward III, his pious wife Queen Philippa and the conscience-stricken Henry IV, not long after his usurpation of the throne. In the summer of 1469, King Edward IV came to give thanks to the Virgin for his wife's safe delivery through childbirth (Queen Elizabeth Woodville was still in seclusion at Fotheringhay Castle, after the birth of the couple's third child, Princess Cecily) and the couple's son-in-law and daughter, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, also visited the shrine in the next generation.
In the early 16th century, among those who came were the young king Henry, and his wife Catherine. They were praying that God would grant them a son. England had seen terrifying wars in an earlier generation as the houses of Lancaster and York battled out their struggle for supremacy, and now stability was needed for the new ruling house of Tudor. It was not to be. Catherine bore several children, but all died in infancy except one daughter, Mary. Henry, angry and disappointed, decided to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. He sought an annulment of his marriage through the Church, but failed to obtain it. Divorcing Catherine unilaterally, he married Anne – who by then was carrying his child – and announced himself head of the Church. The Lord Chancellor, Thomas More, and the Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher, were beheaded at the Tower of London in 1534 for refusing to affirm him in his claims, maintaining instead that only the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter, could hold that office. Needing funds, Henry turned on the Church and crushed monasteries and priories. On the excuse of its being idolatrous, the shrine at Walsingham was destroyed and the statue was taken to London and was burned in the suburb of Chelsea. Sadly Walsingham was unable to stand against Henry VIII and the Canons of the Priory signed the Act of Supremacy. Public devotion came an end and only a mound in the grass by the Priory ruins remains to mark the site where the Holy House of Nazareth once stood. For nearly 400 years, there were no more pilgrimages, processions, or signs of devotion to Mary in this quiet village.
The Anglican Church began to operate in Walsingham after the eviction of the Catholic monks and priests, since some of the Canons of the Priory had signed the Oath of Supremacy, accepting Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church in England, and so there arose the Anglican Church under Henry, its head. The Monastery at Walsingham was always a Priory. But in the late 17th or early 18th century the house on the site, originally the Prior’s lodging, was enlarged into a mansion, and became known as ‘The Abbey’.
The house is still called the Abbey and is privately occupied, but the surrounding grounds are open to the public. They contain the ruins of the Augustinian Priory of The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the premier shrines to Our Lady in England, up until its dissolution in 1538. The Priory was founded c.1153, adjacent to the site where Lady Richeldis de Faverches built the replica of the Holy House following her visions in 1061.
CATHOLICISM REPRESSED FOR NEARLY 400 HUNDRED YEARS
Beginning with the Act of Supremacy of King Henry VIII, in 1534, whereby he usurped spiritual authority and made himself the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church in England, the Catholics entered a period of severe persecution and/or repression that was to last almost 300 years. It was not until the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 that pressure was somewhat released.
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in England and Ireland, in the late 18th century and early 19th century that involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics that had been introduced. Catholics had been required to deny and abjure the temporal and spiritual authority of the pope and the doctrine of transubstantiation. This had placed major burdens on Roman Catholics. Practice and expression of the Faith had been severely restricted as well as access to certain forms of employment, especially in the public forum. At first, Catholics could not own land, could not enlist in the army, could hold no public office, could not have their own schools, nor have their own bishops. In Great Britain and Ireland, the first Relief Act, called the “Papists Act”, was passed in 1778; subject to an oath renouncing Stuart (Catholic) claims to the throne and the civil jurisdiction of the Pope, it allowed Roman Catholics to own property, to inherit land, and to join the army. Reaction against this led to riots in Scotland in 1779 and then the Gordon Riots in London on June 2, 1780. Further relief was given by an Act of 1782 allowing the establishment of Roman Catholic schools and bishops. They also started to gain access to many middle-class professions from which they had been excluded, such as the legal profession, grand jurors, universities and the lower ranks of the army and judiciary. Thus we can see how worship and especially the honoring of the Mother of God at Walsingham, was bound to suffer greatly under those pressures. The Shrine and devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham was buried for almost three centuries, just like her Son spent three days in the tomb. But then came the resurrection. THE CATHOLIC SHRINE OF WALSINGHAM (THE SLIPPER CHAPEL)
located just over a mile from the center of the village of Walsingham The original pre-reformation (or pre-Protestant Revolution) shrine stood in the village from 1061 until its destruction in 1538 by Henry VIII’s commissioners. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII gave permission for the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham to be re-founded and this was done as the Lady Chapel of the Church of the Annunciation on London Road in King’s Lynn, then the parish church for Roman Catholics in this area of North Norfolk.
From there, the first public pilgrimage since the Reformation came to Walsingham on 20th August 1897. The Kings Lynn shrine can still be visited today, and is a replica of the Holy House of Loreto, similar to that found in the 1930s’ Anglican Shrine. As regards, Walsingham, since they had no control of the original shrine grounds in the actual village of Walsingham, due to having been robbed of their property and rights by the Crown in the time of Henry VIII and which was never rectified since then, the Catholics therefore had to come up with another alternative in resurrecting their own Catholic Shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham. Providence stepped in to help, in the person of a lay Catholic, who acquired the one-time Slipper Chapel (the last point on the road of pilgrimage, where pilgrims removed their shoes and walked the last mile to the shrine barefooted.
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THE "MAKE-DO" CATHOLIC SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM IN NEARBY KING'S LYNN
King's Lynn is located around 26 miles east-south-east of Walsingham. The first church of St. Mary built on the present site was designed by A.W. Pugin and opened in 1845. When Father George Wrigglesworth came to the King’s Lynn Mission in 1887 the church, having been built on poor foundations, had deteriorated to such and extent that urgent action was needed. Every effort was made to carry out satisfactory repairs but it eventually became clear that more drastic action was required.
 The facade of Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church in King's Lynn.  A photo of the high altar at Our Lady of the Annunciation, as it was in 1946.  The post-Vatican II refurbished church.  The church was later enlarged and this is the new sanctuary and altar! |
In 1888 Bishop Riddell of Northampton decided that the church should be demolished and a new one built. A subscription list was started and a public appeal was launched through the Catholic papers and magazines. Fr George Wrigglesworth and his small congregation (about 90 at the time drawn from the whole of North West Norfolk) had great difficulty raising the necessary funds. Bishop Riddell laid the foundation stone on the 29th September 1896.
The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII (7th) had drawn Fr Wrigglesworth’s attention to the discomfort suffered by royal guests at Sandringham when attending Mass in King’s Lynn. Learning of the necessity of building a new church, the Prince gave fifty guineas towards the building fund and the Kings of Spain and Italy also made donations. The church was opened for worship on the 2nd June 1897. When the Catholic priest, Father George Wrigglesworth, came to the King’s Lynn Mission, in 1887, he became keen to revive devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham. With the help of Father Philip Fletcher, co-founder of the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, he petitioned Pope Leo XIII to incorporate a restored shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham (the replica of the Holy House of Nazareth) in the Catholic church at Lynn. His Holiness gladly assented and granted a Rescript on the 6th February 1897, restoring the ancient Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham at King’s Lynn. The Shrine Chapel is a reproduction, on a reduced scale, of the Holy House in Nazareth at Loreto. The altar, too is a copy of that at Loreto. Until the 1960's the Shrine was lit by fifteen hanging lamps representing the Mysteries of the Rosary and the ceiling was painted to depict them. Since the likeness of the original Walsingham statue was not known at the time, the Pope directed that a new statue be copied from the picture of Our Lady venerated in the Roman Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, the titular church of Cardinal Pole, who died in 1556, the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury. The statue was carved in wood at Oberammergau, and having been blessed by the Pope on the day the Rescript for the Shrine was granted, it was brought to King’s Lynn on the 19th August 1897. Not only were the Catholics of Lynn and district at the railway station to receive the statue, many had come from all parts of England ant the whole route to the new church was lined by the people of Lynn, who were reported to be very respectful, even reverent. A halt was made at the Red Mount Chapel (built in 1485) in the Walks were the people saluted Our Lady’s return with the Salve Regina. An annual procession to the Red Mount commemorating this event continued until 1984. On the following day, 20th August 1897, the first public pilgrimage to Walsingham since the Reformation took place, led by Father Philip Fletcher and Fr George Wrigglesworth. There was a procession from Walsingham railway station to the Slipper Chapel where prayer were offered and visits were made to the Priory Ruins. The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom continued to lead pilgrimages to King’s Lynn until 1934 when it was at last possible to restore the National Shrine to the Slipper Chapel at Walsingham. Pilgrims continued to visit the Shrine in King’s Lynn. In the 1060s when the church was renovated, the Shrine was simplified and the lamps, ceiling paintings and screen removed. |
 The replica of the Holy House of Nazareth was incorporated into the church in King's Lynn, though on a slightly reduced scale.  Another photo of the Holy House of Nazareth as it was rebuilt in the church of Our Lady of the Annunciation.  A more recent photo of the interior of the replica of the Holy House of Nazareth. |
THE ANGLICAN SHRINE IN WALSINGHAM
The Reverend (Alfred) Hope Patten was appointed the Vicar of Walsingham in 1921 and wished to encourage devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham by having a new statue made, based on that depicted on the seal of the medieval Priory. In 1931, a "Holy House" was dedicated, enclosed within a small Church. In 1938, that Church was enlarged to make way for the present Anglican Shrine.
 Looking down upon the current Anglican shrine buildings and gardens |
 The front entrance to the Anglican shrine |
 Inside the Anglican Church is built a replica of Holy Family's house in Nazareth and an altar has been placed at one end of it. |
 A beautiful ceramic of the Annunciation adorns one of the 15 side altars dedicated to each mystery of the Most Holy Rosary. |
Below is a plan of the grounds and buildings of the Anglican Shrine
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THE WALSINGHAM BALLAD
otherwise known as the The Pynson Ballad a glossary of the most unusual terms is found at the end of the ballad  |
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1. Of this chapell se here the fundacyon,
Bylded the yere of crystes incarnacyon, A thousande complete syxty and one, The tyme of sent Edward kyng of this region. 2. Beholde and se, ye goostly folkes all, Which to this place have devocyon When ye to Our Lady askynge socoure call Desyrynge here hir helpe in your trybulacyon: Of this hir chapell ye may se the fundacyon. If ye wyll this table overse and rede Howe by myracle it was founded indede. 3. A noble wydowe, somtyme lady of this towne, Called Rychold, in lyvynge full vertuous, Desyred of Oure Lady a petycyowne Hir to honoure with some werke bountyous, This blyssed Virgyn and Lady most gracyous Graunted hir petycyon, as I shall after tell, Unto hir worschyp to edefye this chapell. 4. In spyryte Our Lady to Nazareth hir led And shewed hir the place where Gabryel hir grette: "Lo doughter, consyder" to hir Oure Lady sayde, " Of thys place take thou suerly the mette, Another lyke thys at Walsyngham thou sette Unto my laude and synguler honoure; All that me seke there shall fynde socoure, 5. Where shall be hadde in a memoryall The great joy of my salutacyon. Fyrste of my joys grounde and orygynall Rote of mankyndes gracious redempcyon, When Gabryell gave to me relacyon To be a moder through humylyte. And goddys sonne conceyve in virgynyte" 6. This visyon shewed thryse to this devout woman. In mynde well she marked both length and brede; She was full gladde and thanked Oure Lady than Of hir great grace never destytute in nede. This forsayd hous in haste she thought to spede, Called to hir artyfycers full wyse, This chapell to forge as Our Lady dyd devyse. 7. All this, a medewe wete with dropes celestyall And with sylver dewe sent from hye adowne Excepte tho tweyne places chosen above all Where neyther moyster ne dewe myght be fowne. This was the fyrste pronostycacyowne Howe this our newe Nazareth here shold stande, Bylded lyke the fyrste in the Holy Lande. 8. Whan it was al fourmed, than had she great doute Where it shold be sette and in what maner place, Inasmoche as tweyne places were founde oute Tokened with myracle of Our Ladyes grace; That is to say, tweyne quadrates of egall space As the flees of Gedeon in the wete beynge drye, Assygned by myracle of holy mayde Marye. 9. The wydowe thought it most lykly of congruence This house on the fyrste soyle to bylde and arere. Of this who lyste to have experyence, A chapell of saynt Laurence standeth nowe there Faste by tweyne wells, experyence doth thus lere, There she thought to have set this chapell Which was begonne by Our Ladyes counsell. 10. The carpenters began to set the fundamente This hevenly house to arere up on hye, But sone their werkes shewed inconvenyente. For no pece with oder wolde agre with geometrye; Than were they all sory and full of agonye That they could nat ken neither mesure ne marke To ioyne togyder their owne proper werke. 11. They went to reste and layde all thynge on syde, As they on their maystresse had a commaundement; She thought Our Lady, that fyrste was hir gyde, Wold convey this worke aftyr hir owne entent; Hir meyny to reste as for that nyght she sente And prayed Our Lady with devoute exclamacyon, And as she had begonne, to perfowrme that habytacion. |
12. All nyghte the wydowe remayninge in this prayer,
Oure blyssed Lady, with hevenly mynystrys, Hirsylfe beynge here chyef artyfycer, Arerid this sayd house with aungellys handys, And nat only reyrd it but set it there it is, That is, two hundred fote and more in dystaunce From the fyrste place bokes make remembraunce. 13. Erly whan the artyfycers cam to their travayle Of this sayd chapell to have made an ende, They founde eche parte conjoyned sauns fayle Better than they coude conceyve it in mynde; Thus eche man home agayne dyd wynde, And this holy matrone thanked Oure Lady Of hir great grace shewyd here specyally. 14. And syth here Our Lady hath shewyd many myracle Innumerable, nowe here for to expresse To suche as visyte thys hir habytacle. Ever lyke newe to them that call hir in dystrsse. Foure hundreth yere and more the cronacle to witnes Hath endured this notable pylgrymage, Where grace is dayly shewyd to men of every age. 15. Many seke ben here cured by Our Ladyes myghte Dede agayne revyved, of this is no dought, Lame made hole and blynde restored to syghte, Maryners vexed with tempest safe to porte brought Defe, wounded and lunatyke that hyder have sought And also lepers here recovered have be By Oure Ladyes grace of their infyrmyte. 16. Folke that of fendys have had acombraunce And of wycked spyrytes also moche vexacyon Have here be delyvered from every such chaunce, And soules greatly vexed with gostely temptacion, Lo. here the chyef solace agaynst all tribulacyon To all that be seke, bodely or goostly, Callynge to Oure Lady devoutly. 17. Therfore every pylgryme gyve your attendaunce Our Lady here to serve with humble affeccyon. Your sylfe ye applye to do hir plesaunce. Remembrynge the great joye of hir Annunciacion. Therwyth concevynge this brief complacyon. Though it halte in meter and eloquence. It is here wryten to do hyr reverence. 18. All lettred that wyll have more intellygence Of the fundacyon of this chapell here, If you wyll aske bokes shall you encence More clerely to undersclnde this forsayd matere; To you shall declare the cronyclere All cyrcumstaunce by a noble processe Howe olde cronyclers of thys bere wytnesse. 19. O Englonde, great cause thou haste glad for to be, Compared to the londe of promys syon, Thou atteynest my grace to stande in that degre Through this gloryous Ladyes supportacyon, To be called in every realme and regyon The holy lande, Oure Ladyes dowre; Thus arte thou named of olde antyquyte. 20. And this is the cause, as it apereth by lyklynesse, In the is belded newe Nazareth, a mancyon To the honoure of the hevenly empresse And of hir moste gloryous salutacyon, Chyef pryncypyll and grounde of oure salvacyon, Whan Gabryell sayd at olde Nazereth 'Ave', This joy here dayly remembred for to be. 21. O gracyous Lady, glory of Jerusalem, Cypresse of Syon and Joye of Israel, Rose of Jeryco and Sterre of Bethleem, O gloryous Lady, our askynge nat repell, In mercy all wymen ever thou doste excell, Therfore, blissed Lady, graunt thou thy great grace To all that the devoutly visyte in this place. |
GLOSSARY OF SOME OF THE MORE DIFFICULT TERMS
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Sgoostly = devout
ouerse = turn over mette = measurement seche = beseech rote = cause spede = accomplish successfully moyster = moisture fowne = found flees = fleece arere = erect lyste = wish |
experyence = to enquire
lere = teach inconuenyente = troublesome on = from conuey = manage meyny = householdper mayninge = persisting haudys = hands sauns fayle = without mistake syth = since habytacle = abode |
conceyuynge = taking notice of
lettred = literate persons bokes = folks encence = lighten processe = promise my = by belded = built the = Thee acombraunce = have been oppressed by fiends attendaunce = attention |